Pandemonium
by AngeLhearteD
Summary: For PET. SasuSaku. Oneshot. Konoha's Invasion: Sakura regains consciousness to find that she is alone, surrounded by devastation. But the chaos of her environment is nothing compared to her inner turmoil upon seeing him clad in the cloak of the enemy.


_This is a WAY overdue birthday gift oneshot for the super amazing Samurai-PET. Again, I'm SO sorry for being so late! But I've worked really hard to make it as IC and interesting as possible, so I really, really hope you'll enjoy it, PET. A very belated happy birthday to you!_

_**Scenario:**__ An alternate version of the invasion of Konoha. Sakura regains consciousness to find that she is alone, surrounded by chaos and ruin._

_**Disclaimer:**__ Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Seriously! _

**Pandemonium**

_**By AngeLhearteD**_

* * *

_You swing left. _

_I swing right._

_We collide, _

_At a central path,_

_In Pandemonium._

_That broken state,_

_Of Equilibrium,_

_Drags us both,_

_To our knees._

_Yet still I strain,_

_And strive to listen._

_Do you even hear my pleas?_

* * *

She struggled to her feet, dazed. After a brief moment, her bleary vision cleared. She instantly wished it hadn't. She wished in that moment that she were blind. Because what she saw caused the very blood in her veins to freeze over.

A scene of death and utter destruction.

Her lower lip began to quiver uncontrollably. Her body began to tremble. The tears were welling up before she could stop them. All traces of anger were suddenly engulfed in a sea of choking despair.

_M...my home. My friends._

Her green-eyes moved in the direction of where her house had once been. Now there lay nothing but burning devastation.

_M...my family..._

Dead bodies. Everywhere. People she could not save. They littered the once peaceful streets. It was every medical ninja's personal nightmare.

What had happened? _How_ had this happened? How could Konoha, mighty, proud Konoha, have been almost completely wiped out by one of Pein's jutsus?

Just how powerful was he?

She could not see her friends. She didn't know where Kakashi, or Tsunade, or any of her elders were.

And Naruto - Naruto was not here.

There was only smoke and ruin. She was alone. And she had never felt so frightened before in her life; afraid of the unknown, afraid of what the future held in store for her and for them all.

'Naruto...' She sobbed. 'C...come back. Please...'

But her plea carried across the breeze and dissolved in the air, lost forever.

Rock scraped against rock behind her. Her breath caught in her throat and her body froze to the spot as a nasally voice she couldn't immediately place spoke up behind her.

'Well, well. Look what I've found.'

Sakura readied what remnants of chakra she had left and turned rigidly. Her heart leapt violently at what she saw; standing opposite her was a pale blue-skinned, sharp-toothed man, clad in the cloak of the enemy. He was so tall and burly in build that she appeared a mere miniature doll before him.

She recognised him instantly, of course. Many a time during Naruto's absences from the village, she had visited Konoha's library and brushed up on her general knowledge. Being the protégée of the Hokage herself also meant that Sakura had access to top-secret files and information. Along with Shizune, she was one of the few people whom Tsunade truly trusted.

The identity of this man was unmistakable. Hoshigaki Kisame was a particularly violent and aggressive member of the notorious crime organisation Akatsuki. As he shifted on his feet, regarding her with strange, round eyes, he adjusted his grip on the huge, bandaged sword resting on his right shoulder. Sakura knew that it was the very same blade she had read about; the dreaded Samehada sword, which had the ability to absorb and slice through opponent's chakra.

Sakura had always been realistic when it came to her chances in battle. She knew the extent of her own abilities. Her analytical mind calculated that there was next to zero chance of survival if she took on Kisame alone.

She desperately hoped that he did not know of her identity. If she could maintain her only advantage in the form of surprising him with her superhuman strength – then perhaps, _perhaps_, she could run far enough to receive backup.

He tilted his head at her.

'You must be Haruno Sakura. Itachi-san was even perfect at descriptions.'

Her eyes widened as her hopes of remaining unknown instantly shattered.

The blue-skinned nukenin grinned, taking her silence as confirmation.

'I'll certainly earn brownie points for taking out one half of the team that defeated Sasori.' He remarked, advancing slowly. Sakura backed away with each step, every fibre of her being painfully alert as she monitored every single one of his movements. She knew only that his techniques were water based, and that he was aggressive.

What chance did she stand if he were to launch a full-on assault? All she had was her strength and her healing skills – and she was already low on chakra. Taking on an Akatsuki member by herself would surely be suicidal. Against Sasori, she had had Chiyo's assistance. Now she was well and truly alone.

She thought of the chaos that had been wreaked upon her beloved village. She tried to summon anger, fury and determination. But alone, and in the presence of such a powerful member of Akatsuki – the man who had partnered with the ruthless Uchiha Itachi himself – Sakura found that she could not banish the fear that seized her in a merciless hold. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her forehead as she watched him heave the alarmingly huge sword off his right shoulder, signalling that he was ready to engage in battle.

'This shouldn't take long.' Kisame predicted confidently. As Sakura continued to back away, he threw her a condescending look. It was the look of a killer who had preyed upon less-able victims many times before.

'My Samehada sword devours chakra. It's useless to try running. If you surrender now, maybe I'll go easy on you, little girl.'

He was patronising her. She was a kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf village, not a helpless civilian. Some of the fury seeped into Sakura's heart and gave her strength. It provided her with the courage needed to raise her chin defiantly at him in response.

He chuckled at that, and then, without warning, raced forward with surprising speed, directly toward her. Horror and terror jerked her into action. His sword was drawn back to slash and maim; if she was caught just once, it would be fatal.

'GUH!' She yelled, doing the only thing she could – creating more chaos to slow him down. She pummelled her tiny, right fist into the ground, and the earth instantly erupted from the force of her concentrated chakra, forming fissures and cracks in the space between them. Kisame drew to the left, seeking to find a way around the obstacles, but Sakura was relentless. As she created more fractures in the ground, she began to back away, putting more and more distance between them.

Kisame could see exactly what she was doing. It was a very basic strategy with one purpose alone – to escape alive. But his quarry never escaped alive. He jumped over a particularly large cleft of earth, and then came to a stop on an uneven patch of uprooted rock. He was rather impressed by the volatile display of raw power that he had just witnessed. And he was pleased that she was doing more than crying and begging for her pathetic existence, as many others had done before her.

'That's some insane strength for such a little girl.' He commented, regarding her quizzically from his position on the raised piece of rock.

Sakura's chest heaved and her heart pounded as she used the few scattered minutes of precious time to recollect and refocus her chakra. But panic was beginning to bubble up within her. She couldn't keep this up alone. She had already used up an extensive amount of chakra healing people at the hospital, as well as destroying Pein's monstrous summons.

'You must have been trained by the Hokage herself. Maybe I'll take my time playing with you.' He smirked cruelly.

'Y...you bastard...!' She cursed, and desperately rued the fact that it wasn't physically possible for her to punch him right in his smug, arrogant face.

He chuckled again.

'You might not talk or fight like a girl – but I'm sure you scream like one.'

In a flash he was flying forward again with even more malice, and with him came a sudden flood of cascading water.

'...!' She fell back, thoroughly unprepared, mentally berating herself for her lack of concentration. She hadn't even seen him perform the hand seals! Genin mistakes were unacceptable at this level, and the pink haired kunoichi knew such basic errors would ultimately cost her.

The violent wave was hurtling right toward her. Even if she jumped away, she knew he would meet her in descent. Her strength was suited for close-combat. She knew that there was next to no chance of her getting within three metres of the shark-featured criminal. As long as he carried that mighty sword, she couldn't get close enough to achieve a direct hit, unless he made the unlikely mistake of leaving himself open to an attack.

Which meant her only option was the most basic of all – using a Body Replacement to buy her enough time to escape. She quickly raised her hands to perform the jutsu – when Kisame directed a hurricane-type water projectile attack her way. Sakura was forced to abandon her plan and scatter. The water level was beginning to rapidly rise around her, reaching to just below her waist. She sought protection in the form of the clefts of earth she had uprooted in her previous attack. They now served as higher ground.

Kisame smiled a small smile. She was certainly intelligent. He believed that his deceased partner would have silently appreciated the quickness of her mind. He had always seemed to carry an unspoken respect for the clever ones. Too bad Itachi was no longer around.

A wall of water suddenly cloaked the Akatsuki villain from Sakura's line of sight. Mere seconds later, she detected a tremble in the ground directly beneath her.

_Below! _Her mind registered, and she cried out as Kisame materialised from the ground a moment later, shattering the piece of rock that had kept her out of the water. As she fell through the air, his sinister sword grazed mere inches away from her face, and her light, quick reflexes were the only things that saved her from having her skin shaven clean off.

She knew that if he continued to force her away from higher ground, then she would have to balance on the water's surface if she wanted to nullify one of her enemy's many advantages. If she fell under the powerful current, it would be game over.

Unbidden, a distant memory flashed in her mind – a memory belonging to younger, carefree days.

* * *

_.'Flashback"'_

* * *

'Hey, hey! C'mon Sakura-chan! It's easy! See?' Twelve-year old Naruto exclaimed, standing on the water's surface with his arms behind his head.

Sakura stood by the wooden dock tentatively, watching as her two Genin team-mates stood effortlessly over water as if they weighed little more than a feather.

Of course, Sasuke-kun always looked coolest. He stood with his arms folded and eyes closed, appearing as nonchalant as ever. But like Naruto, he waited for her to take the first, daring step.

Kakashi had told her that she possessed the best chakra control on the team. If Naruto and Sasuke-kun could do it – then so could she. Pushing a strand of long, pink, silky hair behind her left ear, she placed one sandaled foot on the water's surface.

_Focus, Sakura!_ She silently willed. Her inner self slyly added that now was her chance to impress Sasuke-kun.

Taking a deep breath and squeezing her eyes shut, she stepped forward, placing her full weight onto her right foot and cringing in anticipation of cold liquid assaulting her senses. When she didn't fall through the water, she opened her eyes, surprise quickly giving way to sheer delight.

'I...I did it! Kakashi-sensei! I-' She wobbled unsteadily as her untrained focus of chakra wavered. 'Whaaa!' She squealed. Her left foot rose precariously as she teetered to the right. Naruto hurried back to her side, reaching out and steadying her.

'Whoa, easy Sakura-chan!'

She lightly slapped his hands away.

'I can do it!' She insisted, and he wisely stood back to give her space. 'Kakashi-sensei believes in me. I won't let him down!'

Kakashi watched from his idle position beneath a tree, a small smile forming behind the mask as he watched his three students interact. Well, Sasuke didn't really engage in interaction so much as just stand there.

_One step at a time_, Sakura thought determinedly to herself as she regained balance and concentrated again. _One foot after the other_.

She placed her left foot forward, and walked. One step. Another. Then another. And then...

'Kyaah!' She screeched, as she felt herself begin to fall, this time to the left. A flash of dark blue broke her descent, and she looked up to find Sasuke, hands in pockets, eyes still closed. He hadn't caught her; merely offered his right shoulder as a wall between her body and the water.

She silently marvelled that only Sasuke could look so cool and perfect in everything he did.

'Thank you, Sasuke-kun!' She intoned sweetly. He merely turned his head slightly away from her in response. She decided to press her luck, and gripped onto his right arm. She was both thrilled and encouraged when he made no move to pull away.

She then glanced at where Naruto stood to her right, and sighed. She supposed that she could use the extra help, and reached out to him. His big blue eyes lit up as he allowed her to hold onto his left arm for support.

Then, carefully, in the waning light of the sunset, and in perfect unison, they took a step forward together.

* * *

_.'End/Flashback"'_

* * *

She was standing in perfect poise over the water.

The memory faded away into black, and tears stung at Sakura's eyes once again.

This couldn't be it. She couldn't die here. She would do her best, and she would live, for her village, for her Hokage, for her friends, for her family, and for her team-mates; those belonging to the present – and those who lingered in the past.

For Kakashi, for Sai, for Naruto – and for Sasuke.

She would live for her memories and the chance to make them a reality once again.

The Samehada sword grazed by her left ear, and she pirouetted around it. This was her chance; perhaps her only opportunity. Kisame was now right in front of her.

'Hold still! Stop being so bothersome!' He glared down at her.

Hold still? If he insisted.

She stopped at his command, and drew her right fist back. Bright green chakra flared furiously and she poured every last bit of fury and determination into her tightly clenched fist.

'EAT THIS!' She yelled.

Kisame's eyes widened. He had clearly underestimated the extent of this girl's strength. He had expected her to give up. Or perhaps he ought to have known all along that she would refuse to die without a fight.

This was, after all, Tsunade's apprentice.

He raised his sword, placing it between his body and her fist just in time to avoid what would have surely been a direct strike. But the sheer force behind her punch sent him skidding back over the water. She used the minute lowering of his defences to her advantage, racing forward.

There was no time for hesitation, or doubts. In the bloody world of ninja, every second counted. She had to have faith in her abilities, and try, even if it seemed like a lost cause. Naruto had taught her never to give up. Better to die trying than to allow fear itself to carry her into Death's waiting arms.

If she could get just _one_ hit in...

He swiped at her with the gigantic sword. Sakura nimbly leapt over the threat, and as she fell into descent, surprised the triangle-toothed man by landing on the wide face of the blade. Before he could catch her out, she pushed away again, before diving once more and directing a chakra-charged kick straight toward his gut.

Kisame growled. She was becoming quite an irritation. It was time to end this little game.

He summoned another mighty wall of water. Sakura quickly performed the Body Replacement jutsu seals, disappearing in a puff of smoke. The Samehada sword sheared through the log she left behind and its wielder searched for her true form, finding it almost instantly.

'I swear you're quite an annoying little brat.' He informed her. 'I'll take back what I said about going easy on you. I'm going to enjoy slicing you into a thousand little pieces.'

Sakura landed on another piece of uprooted ground above water level. As she attempted to catch her breath she began to feel the consequences of her aggressive choice of battle strategy. Her muscles were starting to ache.

But she wasn't granted the luxury of catching her breath. Her stomach tightened into knots as she witnessed Kisame preparing to launch an even more deadly assault. Another violent wave of water surged forth at his command and hurtled toward her. As she stepped back to jump to a safer location, a tunnel of water suddenly rose around her, trapping her in a raging, spinning cocoon. The wind speed and pressure accompanying the waves momentarily disorientated her – and a moment was all Kisame needed.

He closed in for the kill, when a shrill scream filled his ears. It did not belong to the girl. It did not belong to a human. He barely managed to land on a piece of raised earth in time to protect himself from the sudden crackle of malicious current that pumped thousands of deadly volts of electricity into the water.

Over the howling of spinning sea, Sakura heard it too. Her heart leapt but her mind shoved aside the possibility. It just _wasn't_ possible. There was no way – and if she touched the water now, she would be electrocuted to death.

Kisame's grin deepened. He knew who the chakra belonged to – it was, after all, unmistakable. How agreeable of their youngest member to give him a helping hand. He tightened the funnel of water swirling around the pink-haired kunoichi, meaning to let her death come to her in the form of lightning and water combined. There was no escape for her now.

A few seconds later, and he realised that the lightning energy had not been summoned to aid him; in fact, it appeared to serve quite the opposite purpose.

Well now. This was certainly interesting. The blue-skinned shinobi's eyes trailed the expanse of the battle-field, searching for he who had dared to interfere.

Sakura covered her ears with her hands as another devastating screech cut through the funnel of water. She had heard it only once before, but its hauntingly captivating sound was unmistakable.

The scream of One Thousand Birds Current: _Chidori Nagashi_.

She cried out as electricity crackled around her. It grew more intense, covering everything in a vivid blue glow. But the electricity did not touch her, instead maintaining a careful and calculated distance from her skin - just as it had at their last meeting, so long ago.

Seemingly a fraction of a second later, the wall of water exploded away from her. She coughed and spluttered, dizzily falling to her knees on the slippery rock. It was by sheer willpower alone that she did not lose grip and plunge into the crackling water below.

'Fine,' Kisame growled impatiently. 'I'll just finish this brat the typical way.' He rushed forward, draining all remnants of water away in seconds to nullify the threat of electrocution. He drew back his blade as he closed in on the slender girl, ready to deliver the killing blow.

Sakura was disorientated and utterly unprepared. The beautiful melody of Chidori Nagashi echoed in her ears and all she could think of was _his_ name. The only thing that alerted her to the incoming danger was the sharp, grating sound of metal scraping against metal – the sound of two blades clashing.

Kisame's grin was razor sharp as he quizzically regarded the cloaked individual who had intercepted what would have otherwise been a fatal blow to the pink haired young woman. He now stood between Kisame and his prey – something few dared to do.

'You're quick.' The shark-toothed man remarked. As an afterthought, he added, 'You're definitely your brother's brother.'

Sasuke's fathomless black eyes stared back up at him, as blank as the unreadable expression on his chiselled face. He gripped the Kusanagi tightly with both hands, arms raised defensively as he held the sword at an angle that ensured it locked against Kisame's legendary blade and prevented the older man from continuing his original and deadly assault.

'Feeling nostalgic?' Itachi's former partner in crime enquired, beady eyes boring into the younger Uchiha's. He applied extra pressure, pushing forward, testing unpredictable ground. This aggressive move caused Sasuke's grip to tighten further, the muscles in his arms tensing under the strain of the older, larger nukenin's heavy blade.

Based solely on brute force and strength Kisame was superior.

But Sasuke had many, many other advantages. And a greater intelligence was definitely one of them.

Sakura was bent over in exhaustion behind the raven-haired shinobi, barely managing to retain her footing as she lowered herself slowly and carefully off the raised formation of rock, joining Kisame and Sasuke on level ground. The shock was still blocking her ability to think rationally and act accordingly. She gazed, wide-eyed, at the stare-off that ensued between the two, identically cloaked shinobi.

Just minutes earlier, she had been sure that her end had been nigh. Kisame would have sliced her cleanly in half with his shearing, merciless weapon. The blur of black and red that had cut off the attack had appeared so suddenly, so swiftly and without warning.

Her former team-mate had broken her free from the wall of crushing water that had surrounded her. He had saved her life. Staring at his back stupidly, she couldn't think why. She was too stunned to show any emotion. Seeing him in an Akatsuki cloak was the poisonous icing on a badly charred cake. And Sakura's heart was burning.

First her home had been destroyed – and now this terrible revelation had fallen upon her? Sakura's head was throbbing. This couldn't be happening. Everything suddenly seemed to be crumbling and falling apart.

'Didn't you say you wanted to crush _all_ of Konoha?' Kisame mocked, with an air of someone who had always been suspicious of Sasuke's true intentions. His round eyes moved behind Sasuke, to look at the slender, frail looking girl with the pale-pink hair and striking green eyes. He directed his gaze back to Sasuke, the grin still firmly set on his face.

'Denying me killing this pretty little girl goes against that statement of yours, doesn't it?'

Coal eyes narrowed and bled red as the paralysing force of the Mangekyo Sharingan locked onto the taller man in warning.

'She has information.'

Sakura swallowed thickly. Sasuke's voice was colder than she had ever recalled it to be before. It registered in her mind and crept into her heart, freezing it over. The burning was replaced with a terrible numbing sensation. She felt as though she would break to pieces.

Sasuke had saved her - because she had information?

Was that really all? The horrible thing was that she suddenly realised she had no idea whether or not he was bluffing.

She desperately, so very desperately, wanted to understand. But it was easier to fall into the trap of questioning everything, _everything_ that she and Naruto had worked so hard for – years of chasing after the very young man who now stood between her and Death. What had it all been for; for him to turn around and stab them all in the back? He belonged to the same organisation that had brought chaos and suffering to her beloved village – to his own village.

_No_. That wasn't the Sasuke she knew. There had to be an explanation – something he wasn't telling anybody, just like when he had left Konoha to gain power from Orochimaru.

She desperately didn't want to judge – she desperately wanted to understand.

And yet – and yet, the anger, and the betrayal, and the pain – her patience – everything was beginning to splinter and crack. She didn't want to look for answers. She wanted him to tell her everything – to explain everything.

The frustrating, despairing fact was that she knew he would not.

_Why...? When...? Why?_ The questions replayed over and over in her mind, taunting her with their unknown answers.

Sasuke-kun wouldn't. He wouldn't willingly join Akatsuki. There was no way – it made no sense, especially now that Itachi was dead. _It just didn't make any sense_.

Kisame's odd eyes were back on her.

'What a waste of energy. She was happily lined up for the slaughter before you interfered. But you say she has information.' He appeared to think for a moment, before nodding slowly in understanding. 'Then I suppose we can toy with the Hokage's bratty little apprentice some more before feeding her to the sharks.'

In response, Sasuke suddenly altered the angle of his blade and unlocked his sword from Kisame's. The sharp scrape of metal against metal rang in Sakura's ears. Its force caused sparks to fly. Kisame was surprised to see the purely malicious look in Sasuke's eyes. Coupled with the aura of his malevolent chakra, the air was thick with stifling, suffocating hostility.

'Heh.' The blue-skinned man chuckled, finally registering Sasuke's less than subtle hint. He wanted Kisame to back off - entirely.

'I'll let you two catch-up.' He conceded. 'But I'm warning you; you'd better have information to report, or I'll come back and skin this little nuisance alive.' With that he turned away and moved off to find his Akatsuki superiors.

Sasuke watched him go, making sure that he was a safe distance away before relaxing his Sharingan and allowing it to recede. There was silence behind him, broken a few seconds later by the crunching sound of familiar footsteps on the wet, gravely path.

'Can I kill him yet?' Came Suigetsu's drawl from behind Sakura. He leaned against the base of the raised rock, which she had been standing on only minutes earlier. 'He's seriously pissing me off.'

'Not yet.' Sasuke replied quietly at length, without turning around.

The small exchange of words filled Sakura with even more confusion. Why would the owner of the unfamiliar voice speak to Sasuke about killing a member of Akatsuki? Did they not both now belong to the shady, criminal organisation?

Unless...unless...in reality...

In reality, Sakura didn't know what to think.

Suigetsu let out a 'tsk' of disappointment at the response he had received. His eyes then shifted from his leader to the unfamiliar, pretty kunoichi standing before him. He looked her over, tilting his head in appreciation of her slender figure.

'Hey, who's this, Sasuke?'

'...'

Sasuke was silent. But he didn't need to speak, for Sakura already knew the answer.

She was nothing. To the raven-haired nukenin before her, she was nothing more than a broken bond, a discarded memory.

She was no-one.

Suigetsu coughed and rubbed the back of his head, taking note of the tense and uncomfortable silence that stretched on in the wake of his very innocent questioning.

Something inside Sakura suddenly snapped at the painful realisation that she had desperately denied for so long, even after their previous reunion. This wasn't the same Sasuke who had thanked her the night he had left Konoha. This was not her Genin team-mate. This was someone changed and new, altered and different.

This was, very likely, someone she could no longer reach alone – not without Naruto and Kakashi's help. The darkness of war had tainted them all, but she worriedly knew that it had damned Sasuke most.

But how could she even attempt to help him when she did not understand the situation herself?

She had always been afraid for him. It suddenly struck her, with great clarity, that she was now afraid _of_ him.

She didn't know what this older Sasuke was capable of, or how far he was willing to go to achieve whatever utterly messed up goals remained in his mind. She didn't understand. She didn't know what he was planning, or why he still hadn't walked away from her. She didn't want to – she _couldn't_ confront him. Not now, certainly not alone; not without Kakashi and Naruto.

So she did the only thing she could think of – that which was least taxing on her already overburdened mind. She couldn't face him now – and so she would not. She knew her choice of action was uncharacteristic, but she was afraid of being alone in his presence. She was afraid of thinking. And from the way her heart was pounding, she was suddenly afraid of feeling too.

Without warning, she shifted on her feet, pivoted 180 degrees on the spot and bolted away from her former team-mate.

'Whoa - wha...?!' She glimpsed another oddly toothed (but admittedly much better looking) silver-haired young man carrying another huge sword. Surprise was etched onto his face. Suigetsu was unsure of whether or not he ought to stop the girl with the funky hair colour and looked to his team leader for guidance.

Sasuke's head whipped around and his eyes instantly locked onto Sakura's retreating form.

He considered her strange choice of action utterly foolish and uncharacteristically mindless. At the same time, in her typical manner, she managed to make it utterly perplexing, too. After all, when had Haruno Sakura ever run _away_ from Uchiha Sasuke? In a long ago past, the direction had always been the opposite.

A twinge of irritation filled him. Trust her to be so annoying. He had just saved her life – where did she think she was going to, without so much of a single spoken word?

This time he would not let her go. He had meant what he had said to Kisame – she had information.

In a mere blur of movement he had closed the distance between them. She sensed his overwhelming, smothering chakra directly behind her, and her heart leapt. His speed; in her confusion it had stupidly slipped her mind.

'Sakura.'

His voice was almost as close as it had been on _that_ night. Not quite. She had been starved of hearing her name on his lips for so long. Now she found that she wanted, more than anything, to block it out.

But Sasuke would not let it be so. He reached out with his left hand. In his right he held the Kusanagi away from his body and away from Sakura. It was not needed here. He caught her left arm, cool, strong fingers closing firmly around her slender wrist; a delicate wrist that felt as though it could be broken far too easily.

Suigetsu was rendered uncharacteristically silent as he watched on with interest. He didn't exactly know how Sasuke knew the girl, or what kind of relationship they had shared in the past. It was clear from the lack of words spoken however that the two had once known each other, and had obviously parted on less than cheerful terms.

Perhaps she was a former team-mate on a long-ago, childhood mission?

Sakura felt his fingers lock around her left wrist and she reached her limit. He still chose to clasp her wrist, as he had so often done as a child. But they were both now neither of them children and she would not be made to stay and go at his whim. Her emotions over-flooded; grief, exhaustion, anger, frustration and the pain of betrayal bubbled over, breaking through the cracks of any remaining fragments of composure. The muscles in her left arm reflexively tensed from his touch and her right hand clenched into a tight, angry fist. She allowed Sasuke to pull her back a moment, before throwing her left leg back and anchoring her foot into the ground. Using the momentum as leverage, she simultaneously spun on her heel, drawing back her right arm and yelling out in fury, pain, and something else.

Attacking Sasuke seemed like a very acceptable thing to do, considering the circumstances.

Suigetsu looked alarmed; he had expected the fragile looking girl to be as useless as Karin, but the concentrated chakra radiating from her hand suggested to him otherwise.

'Shit! Sasuke, this bitch is-!' He moved to raise his sword but Sasuke shot him a quick, halting look before directing his full-attention back at Sakura.

That flaring, chakra charged fist had been directed at him once before. Except this time, she was notably more furious and upset, and she was at very extreme proximity. He wasn't completely sure of the full nature of her attack, but given that it was a known fact that his former team-mate had been training under Tsunade's watchful eye, something told the young Uchiha that he couldn't afford to be hit, even once.

His eyes locked onto her face and he saw that she was crying. But the expression on her features was one he had never seen before; certainly not in his presence, let alone directed at him.

Rage. He knew the emotion anger very well, and it was there, coupled with pain and grief.

Still he did not raise the Kusanagi. He had not hurt her at their last meeting and he did not wish to now. Instead, he decided to test her. He wanted to see if she had changed as much as he had; he wanted to see what she thought she could do.

He wanted to see if she truly had it in her to strike him.

Her fist drew ever closer, and he began to think it necessary to flash-step out of harm's way – when it came to an abrupt stop just before his chest. It remained there, wavering indecisively. Then the chakra flickered, and gradually faded. Sasuke relaxed slightly when it became apparent that she was not going to punch him after all.

So much for change; but he felt neither scorn nor disappointment. As he noticed her trembling before him, he realised that he felt next to nothing. The only remote trace of feeling left in him was the emotion that weighed heavily on his heart, and mind, every time he raised his eyes and looked upon the ruin that had befallen the Leaf Village.

He felt no satisfaction. He had believed that he had wanted this destruction at one point. Now he knew that he never truly had.

The fist before his chest relaxed, and small fingers clutched onto the front of his cloak.

Suigetsu half-wished he could capture the moment. Sasuke wasn't pushing the girl away, despite their proximity. Maybe he wasn't such an unfeeling bastard after all. Hell, in Suigetsu's personal opinion, anyone who pushed the pink-haired _bomb_ of a kunoichi away had to be crazy. It proved Sasuke wasn't that far gone – at least, not yet.

No sooner had he pondered this when Sasuke's voice reached him. He was looking far too interested in the exchange for the young Uchiha's liking.

'Suigetsu. Find Juugo and Karin. Wait for me by the front gates.'

'Man.' The silver-haired youth sulked. 'Don't be such an asshole. Do I _really_ have to right now?'

The intensity of Sasuke's glare told him that there was no room for negotiating over the matter.

'Fine, fine, whatever's left of Leaf's front gates.' Suigetsu muttered, and moved away to do as he was told.

Sakura's mind was going into overdrive. Was this 'Suigetsu' part of his new team? Were the people he had mentioned replacements for the team he had abandoned in Konoha?

Sasuke's eyes slipped back to Sakura once he was sure that they were alone.

She couldn't help it. She had spent years building up her defences, but standing before him, just the two of them, and those defences began to crumble.

'Why, Sasuke-kun?' She sobbed at length, voice shaking unsteadily. Once the convulsions in her chest began, they didn't seem to stop. Every shudder that wracked through her small frame crushed her very soul. Her head bowed but she did not close the gap to cry against him, no matter how great the urge was to do so. 'Wh...why are you wearing that? W...why...?!'

She desperately sought to grab hold of any fragment of understanding. Sasuke never did things without purpose. There had to be an explanation, and yet she could not see it – not without his assistance. All throughout her sobbing and broken questioning, she maintained her grip on him. It was almost as if she had to feel that he was there before her in order to believe that he was real.

All throughout, he did not raise a single hand to pry her fingers away.

But Sasuke had never been one to satisfy anybody's curiosity, and now was not the time to give Sakura the answers she so desperately sought. He needed to find Naruto – and fast.

And so his dark eyes rested on her tear-stained face, and he ignored her questions, directing his own instead.

'Sakura.' He stated calmly again, and the way her name rolled off his lips conjured millions of tiny memories in her mind that instantly began to crack. His calm, detached voice caused her head to rise. Eyes that he had always recalled to be brilliant apple green were now a darker shade of jade in their emotional distress as they met his own onyx ones.

'Where is Naruto?'

He felt her fingers tighten at the mere mention of the blond. In that instant, he wanted her intelligence to have grown even greater than her development as a kunoichi. He had witnessed her fight against Kisame, and he had seen the extent of her growth. He had even silently acknowledged the glaringly obvious improvement. He was sure that she possessed more skills than she had let on, but he knew that now was not the time to discover them. He now wanted her to read between the lines, as she once had years ago. He silently willed her to attempt to make rational sense of the confusing reality he had presented to her – a reality he could not yet explain to her, Naruto, or Kakashi.

She was wasting precious time with every passing second of silence – except that she didn't know it. But of course she did not. Sasuke couldn't blame her for seeing only what her eyes saw. She saw him clad in the cloak of the organisation that had destroyed her – _their_ – home village. He could not blame her for putting two and two together. He didn't expect unconditional loyalty – after all, he had shown his former team-mates and his village none. How could anybody know for sure that he had played no part in the devastating attack on Konoha?

But things were not always as they seemed, and to him, she wasn't just anybody. Long ago, they had been team-mates. And in that moment, Sasuke hoped without hope that Sakura would silently understand exactly why he was searching for Naruto.

**Author's Note**

_That isn't a cliff-hanger guys and girls. This is the END of the story! No more chapters! It is meant to end a little abruptly on purpose. But read between the lines and you should get it! _

_To PET, I hope you liked it! I really took time on this so I hope all the plot changing has paid off and you're 150% happy XD Please let me know what you thought of it. _

_To everybody else reading, please leave your feedback too! I haven't written Kisame before so do let me know if he was IC/OOC in your good opinions xD _

_Also, as a final note I was kind of going for the silence speaks volumes approach with regard to the SasuSaku interaction. Actions speak louder than words kind of thing. On that note, thank you all for reading (most of all to PET, for being so inspiring). Ciao for now! ; )_


End file.
